Jeffrey Ercolino - Page 6

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          February order), that supersedes the May order and establishes              
          petitioner’s support obligation at “$593.38 bi-weekly for one               
          child”.  Mortgage payments are not referenced in the February               
          order.  The biweekly payments totaling $15,4801 were withheld               
          from petitioner’s wages during the year in issue.                           
               Although the terms of the May order differ from the terms of           
          the February order, simple mathematics establishes that                     
          petitioner’s support obligation as stated in terms of dollars and           
          cents did not change from one order to the next.  The manner in             
          which petitioner treated support payments (including mortgage               
          payments made directly to the mortgagee or indirectly to his                
          former spouse) on his Federal income tax returns for years after            
          he separated from his former spouse, but prior to the year in               
          issue, has not been made part of the record.                                
               As relevant here, on his timely filed 2002 Federal income              
          tax return petitioner claimed a $7,800 alimony deduction.  In the           
          notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed that deduction                  
          because petitioner had “not provided verification * * * [he was]            
          entitled to the credit”.2  Respondent further determined that the           
          underpayment of tax required to be shown on petitioner’s 2002               
          return is due to negligence or intentional disregard of rules or            


               1 This amount is rounded, as $595.38 multiplied by 26 equals           
          $15,479.88.                                                                 
               2 Following the parties’ lead, we ignore respondent’s misuse           
          of the term “credit”.                                                       




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